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California Braces For Redistricting Battle
The long-awaited release of census data for California confirms what most pundits have been projecting for some time: the state no longer has a single racial or ethnic majority. With the white population dipping below 50 percent for the first time since the 1800s and the biggest growth in the Hispanic and Asian populations, California […]
California Study Shows Ethnic Gaps Persist
While quality of life has improved for most racial and ethnic groups in California over the last three decades, non-Hispanic whites and most Asians are still more likely to enjoy better health care, greater education and higher-paying jobs, a study by the Public Policy Institute of California has found. African-American and Latino populations have narrowed […]
Tobacco Money Triggers Political Row
In what some local political observers call the nastiest fight in decades, a battle over control of tobacco windfall money has consumed one Southern California county. Arguing that it is the only way to guarantee settlement funds are spent on health care, a private hospital has initiated a ballot measure to divert all payments from […]
States Encounter Internet Voting Barriers
LOS ANGELES — The day when citizens can cast votes with the click of a mouse probably isn’t far off. But for now,states trying to implement Internet voting systems are finding that unpredictable human behavior — not technology — is the greatest impediment. This week, the U.S. Justice Department approved the world’s first binding Internet […]
California Juvenile Justice Measure Reflects State Trend
LOS ANGELES — When Michigan prosecuters charged 11-year-old Nathaniel Abraham with murder in 1997, the suspect’s age was not the most sensational part of the xase — it was the fact that Michigan law allowed him to be charged as an adult. After a three-week trial ended in a conviction late last year, Abraham was […]
State Laws Stand In Way Of Direct Online Car Sales
LOS ANGELES — When the world’s two largest automobile manufacturers –General Motors and Ford–announced Internet partnership deals with two of the biggest names on the Internet–America Online and Yahoo– at a Detroit car expo, many analysts said it took the car companies one step closer to offering the ultimate point-and-click shopping experience: buying a car […]
State Leaders Stymied On Agriculture Agenda At WTO Meeting
Iowa governor Tom Vilsack should probably avoid black cats, broken mirrors and walking under ladders. Just months after avoiding serious injury in the devastating Taiwan earthquake in October, Vilsack was nearly assaulted by protesters at last week’s World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. An Iowa state trooper pulled the governor away from the mob, which […]
Presidential Candidates Largely Mum On Internet Taxation
With the political debate over whether to tax Internet commerce heating up, one group of spotlight-seeking politicians is, for the most part, ducking the issue. The only presidential candidates who have taken a public position on this critical question, which will surely be atop the legislative agenda during the next presidents first year in office, […]
Globetrotting Governors Push Exports, Commerce
When Illinois Governor George Ryan embarked on a historic five-day visit to Cuba in October, fun and sun on the Caribbean island were the last things on his mind. His avowed mission was to push for an end to the United States’ 40-year-old economic embargo and provide struggling Midwestern farmers with another export market. “Until […]
Political Divisions Widen On E-Commerce Taxation
WASHINGTON — With less than a week remaining before a self-imposed November 15 proposal deadline, the congressionally-appointed Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce Wednesday received two major proposals from conservative groups to make electronic commerce and Internet access completely tax-free. The two anti-tax proposals come on the heels of a recommendation adopted by state and local […]
Responsibilities Of State Leaders Outpace Salaries
As chief executive of the world’s seventh largest economy, California Gov. Gray Davis will earn a salary of $141,936 this year for leading a state with an $81 billion budget and a $1 billion surplus. That is small change compared to what Davis would have earned in a similar job in the private sector. The […]
Alabama Lottery Vote Extends Gaming Losses
When Alabama religious leaders campaigned against a state lottery, they knew they had a good shot at mobilizing enough voters to defeat Gov. Don Siegelman’s seemingly popular plan to use gambling proceeds to fund college scholarships. What they didn’t know was that their effort would crown a series of setbacks for the gaming industry. It’s […]