Recently in Government
Where We Are:
As cars and trucks become more fuel efficient and more all electric and hybrid vehicles take to the road, states are seeing gas tax revenues shrink.
Where We Are:
Cities are supposed to carry out the state's affordable housing mandates. Except the state has clawed back the money that's supposed to build the homes that working-class Californians need.
Where We Are:
No NFL team has expressed "serious interest" in moving to Los Angeles, and the game clock runs out in six weeks.
Where We Are:
Opossums wander our backyards by night and occasionally startle a homeowner, who imagines that nothing so wild could be part of everyday life.
Where We Are:
Does your city have too many police officers or not enough? A new study suggests there is an answer, but it's not likely to be one that your city council will care to hear.
Where We Are:
While the national media focused on El Monte's soda tax and the regional media tracked Measure J's almost win, other local elections were reshaping the political landscape.
Government:
San Bernardino County voters ended what is likely one of the state's most colorful political eras by ousting incumbent District 3 Supervisor Neil Derry, a Republican, in favor of Democrat James Ramos, former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Government:
California's desert has voted, with turnout running around 50%, and the results of each Congressional race will likely surprise no one - but it looks as though the region may have shifted ever so slightly toward the liberal end of the spectrum.
Government:
Friday's debate between contenders for California's 36th Congressional District's seat got ugly fast.
Government:
Mary Bono Mack's campaign's attempt to cast Democratic challenger Raul Ruiz as a wild-eyed leftist seems to be fizzling.
Where We Are:
Brown doubles down on a bad idea, voting replacements for development and affordable housing programs.
Where We Are:
The City of Industry has just 88 registered voters. Like Vernon, Industry is a bunker pretending to be a city. They are just two of the county's "phantom cities."
Government:
The political stands taken by candidates in the Third District supervisor's race in San Bernardino are hard to unravel -- sometimes even if you ask the candidates directly.
Where We Are:
The sale of AEG puts the future of Farmer's Field in doubt, raises questions about the transparency of city government, and demonstrates what billionaires think of the rest of us.
Where We Are:
The downtown stadium gets a coat of "greenwash." AEG gets a pass. And CEQA gets sacked.
Where We Are:
Most cities in California have a city manager whose job, among many others, is to turn good ideas into workable programs. It would be a bad idea to junk what city managers do.
Where We Are:
California's cities earn overwhelming approval from voters. The Legislature has a dismal rating. So why is the Legislature dismantling cities and concentrating authority in Sacramento?
Where We Are:
Buckling sidewalks, decomposing streets, leaking water mains, and failing sewers add up to a city that's lost focus and is losing the faith of its residents.
Where We Are:
You can still get to the pier in Seal Beach by bus, but it's going to be whole lot harder for riders. The reasons reveal how difficult it is to be "transit oriented."
Where We Are:
What could be wrong with local self-government? If the goal is "municipal consolidation," incorporation is just one more inconvenience.
SoCal Focus is a daily blog about the people, places and issues in and around Southern California.
I Am Los Angeles: On His Way Back
A video portrait of a man whose dreams and determination allowed him to get off the streets and into a stable life.
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