The governor’s $155-billion blueprint would increase general-fund spending by more than 8%, to $106.8 billion. Brown also wants to repay $11 billion in debts incurred during years of state financial crisis, and he would stash $1.6 billion in a reserve fund as a buffer against future economic turmoil.
You might think that testing robotic aircraft for future civilian use would be a quintessential California enterprise. But not if you’re a U.S. senator from the state. The governor’s not exactly a cheerleader for the idea, either.
California’s two top legislative leaders — both Democrats — have their eyes on 2014 as California faces big challenges in continuing to improve the state’s still underperforming economy.
Film industry and union officials are mobilizing to back legislation this year that would substantially increase funding for the state’s film incentive program and lift some restrictions to make the program more competitive with those offered by New York, Georgia and other states and countries.
At least 13,000 Los Angeles city employees received a 5.5% raise Wednesday, the final piece of a salary agreement that became a major financial burden during the recent economic downturn. The pay hike means a majority of workers with the Coalition of L.A. City Unions, which represents non-public-safety employees such as clerks, gardeners and mechanics, have received increases totaling 24.5% since 2007, according to city budget officials.
. . . Hollywood films, often seen as a risky place to invest money, can be anything but chancy for wealthy investors who have learned that some of those tax breaks can be packaged to generate cash from even mediocre box office results.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced the selection of sites in Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia.
Congress went home for the holidays without approving a federally funded extension of jobless benefits for about 1.3 million Americans who have been out of work six months or longer.
California employers added a net 44,300 jobs in November, posting strong job growth toward the end of the year, according to data from the state’s Employment Development Department.
The surge in hiring was largely in retail trade, part of the typical hiring uptick during the busy holiday shopping season. Construction and manufacturing both posted healthy job gains, both for the month and over the last year.
The overall economic outlook for the U.S. has improved sharply in recent weeks amid a string of surprisingly robust economic data: Businesses have stepped up hiring, new factory orders from abroad are at a two-year high and consumers have been flocking to car lots and restaurants.
San Francisco Bay Area hedge fund manager Tom Steyer on Monday launched a statewide campaign, aimed at prompting action by state lawmakers, to impose a new extraction tax on oil produced in California.
The median sales price for all homes in the six-county region inched up 0.3% from October to $385,000, research firm DataQuick said Monday. While prices are 19.9% higher than last year, they have been roughly flat for five straight months.
California’s population grew by roughly 332,000 people in the last fiscal year — its biggest increase in nearly a decade, according to new California Department of Finance estimates.
Aerospace giant Boeing Co. announced that it would reduce its workforce in Southern California by 200 to 300 people who are part of its research and development unit.
In nominal dollars, households already recouped their lost wealth a year ago. But adjusting for inflation, Americans’ net worth is still about 0.5% shy of the peak in the third quarter of 2007, just before the recession hit.