Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Dec. 30, 2015, Ventura County Star. As we eagerly anticipate the rain of El Niño that is promised to start this month, we are hearing a growing drumbeat to find more and better ways to save that rainwater for California’s next drought. The expected wet winter will trigger […]
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By Larry Weitzman About or shortly after the time Larry Combs was dismissed from his two-year stint as CAO of Merced County he was asked by the Board of Supervisors of Sutter County to help them find a new CAO. It was a paid consultancy. Combs recommended a man named Jim Arkens, who at the […]
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By Alexandra Minna Stern Not too long ago, more than 60,000 people were sterilized in the United States based on eugenic laws. Most of these operations were performed before the 1960s in institutions for the so-called “mentally ill” or “mentally deficient.” In the early 20th century across the country, medical superintendents, legislators, and social reformers […]
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By Sean McElwee, Al Jazeera America Barack Obama’s presidency has been marked by heated debates about the Republican Party’s racial attitudes. Many liberals have noted the dog whistles —subtle cues that play on stereotypes and may trigger taboo sentiments — employed in Republican attacks on the president. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for instance, famously […]
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By Aaron G. Fountain Jr., Al Jazeera America Student activism has made a comeback. With recent campus demonstrations against alleged racial discriminationand in favor of free college tuition, America may be facing a wave of student protest to a degree not seen since the 1960s. But while the media focuses on college campuses, very few journalists […]
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By Joe Mathews My fellow Californians, the state of our state is nuttier than ever. I know you will hear more conventional assessments of the state of things in the coming weeks. January is the high season for elected officials to offer addresses on how our state is faring—overviews of California and its local governments. […]
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By Paul Larmer, High Country News Ammon and Ryan Bundy, sons of scofflaw Nevada rancher Clive Bundy, appear to have made an ambitious New Year’s resolution: Force the federal government, which has managed more than half of the American West’s lands for the past century, to relinquish them, at gun point if necessary, to the […]
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By Cati Porter Ahtziri and I are sitting on a stone garden bench outside the church in Riverside where my children take piano lessons. In her hand is a stack of papers—typed forms for me to sign, neatly handwritten manuscript pages, and sketches of fictional characters with names and biographical information. I have been asked […]
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To the community, There’s nothing like having a hearty and tasty meat loaf dinner to make you feel like you’re eating at home. Thanks to the Adopt A Day of Nourishment sponsor MontBleu and our hardworking B&B volunteer cooks that is exactly what B&B’s dinner guests enjoyed at the Dec. 28 evening dinner. The meat […]
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By Michael Bernick It’s easy to think that in the world of employment and anti-poverty programs, nothing ever changes, that the same joblessness continues as the government spends billions. I know this isn’t true. For the past two years, I’ve worked with archivists to sifting through old files and records on employment from the 1970s […]
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