A key measure of inflation accelerated last month to the fastest annual clip since 2012, as robust spending by consumers and businesses steadily pushed up prices for goods and services across the economy. The personal-consumption-expenditures price index, a broad inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in July from […]
The state agency in charge of regulating harmful chemicals in food and other products recently stated that coffee poses no significant risk of cancer. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has proposed updating California regulations accordingly following a public hearing in Sacramento on Thursday. The move would constitute a reversal of a court […]
Across the Bay Area, recycling companies are in a crunch to find places overseas where they can sell plastic yogurt cups and junk mail flyers. China had been a big buyer of reclaimed refuse but recently tightened its rules on the products it accepts, requiring the various materials to be rigorously separated and much cleaner […]
This map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in states like Missouri or Ohio than they are in states like New York or California. As a result, the same amount of cash can buy you comparatively more in a low-price state than in […]
Brown has often lamented California’s inability to do the big projects that were a hallmark of the state during the post-World War II era, such as freeways, dams and canals. He’s tied that lament to his own pet projects, twin tunnels to carry water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a north-south bullet train. However, […]
Last weekend, the Los Angeles Times reported that before being appointed as Los Angeles’ new police chief, Michael Moore “took a brief, highly unusual retirement” that allowed him to rejoin the police department while claiming “a financial windfall: a lump sum retirement payment of $1.27 million from the city.” That’s because of Moore’s enrollment in […]
Everybody deserves a second chance. Third chances? Sometimes. But one San Francisco Superior Court judge apparently believes in ninth chances. He indicated that this month he’ll release from jail one of the city’s most prolific auto burglars, a man with a lengthy rap sheet involving eight car burglaries, some of which turned violent. In April, […]
Inside you will find the Capitol office of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, an unlisted branch where elected officials can register their cars, renew their driver’s licenses – or apply for the new federally-mandated Real ID card that has been driving up wait times at DMV field offices across the state. From 8 a.m. […]
Despite complaints about escalating wait times for thousands of customers at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, state lawmakers sided with the Brown administration Wednesday and refused to order an official audit into its management. The audit request needed at least eight supporters from the Joint Legislative Audit Committee — four from the Assembly and four […]
“It’s unclear exactly which ‘bad environmental laws’ Trump is referring to,” explained a CNN report. “Experts assume he’s talking about the age-old fight for water rights in California, which pits farmers in the state’s conservative Central Valley against big cities and against environmentalists, who want to see some water left in rivers and streams to […]
California struck back at the Trump administration over air pollution Tuesday, unveiling a proposal that would force automakers to comply with the state’s strict standards for tailpipe emissions even as the federal government moves to weaken the rules. The proposal, released by the California Air Resources Board, sharpens the conflict between the state and President […]
A California program to fight climate change may now add more to the cost of gasoline than the state gas-tax increase that many voters want to repeal. The Low Carbon Fuel Standard, designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from fuel, now adds 12 to 14 cents per gallon to the cost of gasoline sold in […]
As crews across California battle more than a dozen wildfires—including the largest in state history—the blazes are spewing enough carbon into the air to undo some of the good done by the state’s climate policies. What’s even worse: Climate-warming compounds that will be released by the charred forests long after the fires are extinguished may […]
A humming U.S. economy is pushing inflation up to levels that the central bank considers healthy. But there’s a downside: Americans’ paychecks are barely keeping up. Consumer prices rose 2.9% over the past year, a rate last exceeded in late 2011, the Labor Department said Friday. Core prices—those outside of volatile food and energy-related expenses—climbed […]
Housing affordability has hit a 10-year low throughout most of California, new data show, as three out of four state residents can no longer afford sky-high median homes prices. Buyers in the capital region are feeling similar pressure. The percentage of people able to afford an average-price home dropped sharply from 31 percent at the […]