News

Still, the loss of redevelopment has left funding holes that haven’t been filled, particularly for low-income housing. Since redevelopment’s dissolution, the state has approved spending from its cap-and-trade environmental program and implemented a new real estate transaction fee to subsidize the development of low-income housing. Those efforts, however, are generating less money than the $1-billion-a-year […]

We could be headed into another drought. There’s little Sierra snow and valleys are dry. Is California ready this time? Not really. Good signs: There’s still a lot of water stashed in reservoirs from last year’s abnormally wet winter. And we’ve become better at using less water in our homes and yards. One very bad […]

A group led by former Tesla Inc. executives brought a bundle of gutsy ideas from their new employer, Chinese tycoon Jia Yueting, who vowed to revive the 1-million-square-foot building and assemble a luxurious electric car that would surpass anything from Tesla’s Elon Musk. “The community was just thrilled to have an opportunity to have life […]

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday approved a three-year benefits package that contains some costs but falls well short of the savings that district officials say is needed to keep the school system solvent. The 60,000 employees of L.A. Unified are not among the nation’s highest paid, but most enjoy comprehensive medical benefits […]

The rise of digital media is powering job growth in the entertainment industry throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties, according to a new report. The digital media industry accounted for 206,880 jobs in the two counties in 2016, a 12% increase since 2006, according to the report by a coalition of industry groups including the […]

Lawmakers spent more than six hours reviewing some of the problems that have accompanied RecycLA, the commercial trash program that has sparked months of complaints from landlords, condominium owners and the city’s business groups. The feedback they received was frequently angry. One speaker accused the city’s private trash haulers of engaging in price gouging. A […]

California taxpayers are on the hook for more than $91.5 billion to provide health and dental benefits to state government workers when they retire, according to a report issued Wednesday by the state controller’s office.

Citing limited options for raising local taxes, the association representing hundreds of California cities warned that rising public employee pension costs might mean fewer services and longer emergency response times over the next several years.

Proponents of making a dramatic change to California’s landmark Proposition 13 property tax restrictions took their first step to getting a measure on the November 2018 statewide ballot Friday. The change would allow the state to charge higher property tax rates on commercial and industrial properties, an effort known as “split roll” because existing tax protections on homes would remain in place. Advocates of the measure, including the League of Women Voters of California and community organizing nonprofits California Calls and PICO Network said the change could raise billions of dollars that could be spent on public schools and community colleges.

California climate regulators on Thursday approved a detailed plan for the state to meet its 2030 carbon reduction goals. The effort, known formally as the “scoping plan,” details the state’s strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels over the next 13 years as a way to fight climate change.

State regulators want Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to replace three natural gas plants with energy storage, a move that represents another significant step toward a clean energy future. The California Public Utilities Commission will vote Jan. 11 on the proposal that would require PG&E to seek clean alternatives to replace the three fossil-fuel plants.

California’s economic engine has slowed somewhat in 2017 and that’s expected to continue in coming years as employers have trouble finding workers in the expensive state, according to a new report.

The latest UCLA Anderson Forecast, released Wednesday, calls for job growth of 1.8% by year’s end, 1.6% in 2018 and 1.2% in 2019. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, economist and forecast director Jerry Nickelsburg said.

Like other transplants I spoke to in Nevada, Herndandez didn’t want to leave California. It’s home. It’s where she went to school and where her parents still live in the house she grew up in. But unless you choose a career that will pay you a small fortune to manage costs driven higher by a stubborn shortage of new housing, California is not a dream, it’s a mirage.

Moving to get a better job or move up the workplace chain is nothing new. But what’s going on here seems different — people leaving not for better jobs or pay, but because housing elsewhere is so much cheaper they can live the middle-class life that eludes them in California.

California’s cap-and-trade program received another boost Tuesday, with its most recent permit auction reaching record-high sales, according to details released by regulators Tuesday.

In November’s auction, every permit offered by the state was sold, and prices reached their highest-level in the program’s five-year history.

California posted strong job gains in October, as the Golden State’s economic engine pushed the unemployment rate down to 4.9% from 5.1% a month earlier.

In all, the state added 31,700 net new jobs last month, according to data released Friday by the Employment Development Department.

The report marked the first time since March that employers added jobs in consecutive months, boosting confidence in an economy that has slowed somewhat from last year.