Capitol Alert

Capitol Alert Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get e-mail alerts for breaking news, as well as exclusive previews of Capitol happenings and stories in tomorrow's Bee.

Web Site: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/


Dan Walters Daily: California playing cannabis catch-up

May 21, 2013

California is trying to reclaim the mantle of marijuana leadership it has ceded to states like Colorado and Washington, Dan says. Have a question you'd like Dan to answer? Post it on our Facebook page. See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

AM Alert: Elections in Los Angeles, Senate District 16 and Assembly District 80

May 21, 2013
AM Alert: Elections in Los Angeles, Senate District 16 and Assembly District 80

We'll get a sense of what's next for California's perpetually evolving Legislature after the polls close on a few different races today. In addition to choosing a new mayor, the citizens of Los Angeles will decide whether Sen. Curren Price, D-Los Ang...

Bill to add class offerings at higher price passes Assembly

May 20, 2013
Bill to add class offerings at higher price passes Assembly

A bill authorizing additional community college classes for students willing to pay higher fees divided Assembly Democrats on Monday as some questioned whether the proposed legislation would create a two-tiered system. Assembly Bill 955 by Das William...

CA Senate approves bill to regulate medical marijuana shops

May 20, 2013
CA Senate approves bill to regulate medical marijuana shops

The California Senate passed a bill today that would shield pot shops following state guidelines for dispensing medical marijuana from prosecution for marijuana possession or sale. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said the goal of his Senate...

Former California Sen. Newton Russell dies at 85

May 20, 2013
Former California Sen. Newton Russell dies at 85

Newton Russell, who represented a swath of the San Fernando Valley in the state Legislature for more than three decades, died Saturday at his Southern California home. He was 85 and succumbed, his family said, to lung cancer. Russell, a Republican, wa...

Services scheduled for GOP consultant Stephen Kinney

May 20, 2013
Services scheduled for GOP consultant Stephen Kinney

Services have been scheduled for longtime Republican strategist and pollster Stephen Kinney, who died this weekend of prostate cancer at 69. Over decades of work in California politics, Kinney's clients included GOP luminaries like former governors Ge...

Jerry Brown urges college grads to tackle climate change

May 20, 2013
Jerry Brown urges college grads to tackle climate change

BERKELEY - Gov. Jerry Brown told college graduates in a commencement speech today that climate change is a greater threat to their future than any number of other problems, from the home mortgage crisis and student debt to growing inequality and war ab...

Jerry Brown on Bay Bridge: ‘First we want to make it safe’

May 20, 2013
Jerry Brown on Bay Bridge: ‘First we want to make it safe’

BERKELEY - Gov. Jerry Brown said this morning he does not know if the state will open the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as scheduled on Labor Day weekend, as officials respond to reports of cracked bolts on the structure. "I...

Dan Walters Daily: CA budget exposes Democratic divisions

May 20, 2013

Squabbling over social welfare spending in Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget revision shows the governor's biggest adversaries are his fellow Dems, Dan says. Have a question you'd like Dan to answer? Post it on our Facebook page. See other Dan Walters ...

AM Alert: Immigrant Day rally comes to Sacramento

May 20, 2013
AM Alert: Immigrant Day rally comes to Sacramento

Immigrants from across California are arriving in Sacramento today to advocate for a package of immigration bills as part of an Immigrant Day organized by the California Immigrant Policy Center. Things kick off with a 10 a.m. rally on the north steps...