Politics

Four years ago, California voters poured sugar in the insurance industry’s gas tank. Fed up with rising premiums and what they saw as the industry’s indifference to their pain, they voted themselves a 20% rate rollback and other reforms under Proposition 103. The vote sparked similar legislation across the country and prompted much soul-searching in … Read more

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took his fight against liberalism to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 1 WASHINGTON — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered a well-rehearsed blast at California this week, calling it too left, too “woke,” too expensive. And as proof, he declared, Californians and … Read more

In a monotonous beige office block, two floors up from Escape hair salon in Claremont, the really big questions never stop coming. What would Aristotle think about gun control? How might Jefferson cope with campaign finance reform? Could Abraham Lincoln straighten out California’s energy mess? Can anybody? These and other vital matters of statecraft press … Read more

Former Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-Pacoima, speaks at the Capitol in Sacramento in May 2017. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Three months after Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment, an Assembly investigation has found the Pacoima Democrat likely engaged in “unwanted conduct” toward three subordinate employees while he worked as a legislative staffer. The … Read more

California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa speaks to his supporters Tuesday night at the City Market Social House in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) When Antonio Villaraigosa was elected mayor of Los Angeles, it signaled the growing clout of California’s Latino voters as well as the rise of a Democratic star whose … Read more

Barbie and Ken and their doll-world friends usually are at the beach, or the prom, or a wedding–places where skies are blue, dresses are pink and fairy tales come true in the minds of their little-girl owners. On Monday, Barbie became a political pawn. Barbie was caught between Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy of San … Read more

A California Highway Patrol vehicle is parked outside the state Capitol in Sacramento in 2022. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) When the state of California paid prison supervising dentist George Soohoo $1.2 million last year, it wasn’t for a job well done. It was for vacation never taken. Soohoo joined the rare club of state … Read more

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass poses for a picture Saturday with Shyne Griggs, 3, at an event by the 1Pali organization at Clover Park in Santa Monica to mark 100 days since the Palisades fire. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) For Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the list of problems keeps piling up. She … Read more

An evening show last week at the Hollywood Improv comedy club included poop jokes, a song about young people being too woke and a raunchy impression of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. There were no quips about President Trump’s international tariffs, even from a comedian who had just posted a lengthy podcast episode about the on-again-off-again … Read more

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan S. Greenspan disclosed Wednesday he had “objected quite strongly” to a recent attempt by a Reagan Administration official to prod the Fed into reducing interest rates. He warned that further pressure could provoke the Fed into the opposite course. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Greenspan said he had … Read more