Politics

Joan Larsen, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, speaks at his memorial service in 2016. (Getty Images) The sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016 initially seemed to end hopes conservatives had for overturning Roe vs. Wade. He had been the court’s most outspoken opponent of the right to abortion … Read more

Mayor Lionel Wilson, a fixture in this city’s politics for three decades, was fighting off a nasty cold as he took his campaign for reelection to a hall filled with real estate agents recently. In past years, Wilson could have stayed home to nurse his ailment. He long ago endeared himself to Oakland business leaders … Read more

Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss the case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of plotting … Read more

About 3,400 California workers are being paid 20 to 80 cents an hour to make dozens of products ranging from jeans to office furniture. The low pay isn’t so bad considering that each worker also receives free room and board, free clothing, free recreation and other services costing taxpayers $14,000 a year. Besides that, the … Read more

Gov. Jerry Brown reviews legislation with his wife, Anne Gust Brown, second from left and staffers Camille Wagner, left, Graciela Castillo-Krings at his Capitol office on Sunday. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California’s Legislature revved into high gear when it came to writing laws in 2018, sending the most bills to the governor’s desk in … Read more

Taft High School junior Yoeli Barag has been interested in politics for as long as he can remember, thanks to the frequent political discussions he says were part of growing up in his Woodland Hills home. But this fall the political discussions he witnesses will be taking place in the U.S. House of Representatives, where … Read more

Farmworkers take a break from picking leafy greens in San Jacinto. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) A paradox has settled across California’s velvet green fields and orchards. California farmers, who are some of the most ardent supporters of Donald Trump, would seem to be on a collision course with one of the president-elect’s … Read more

Why did California ‘kill’ its booming hemp-derived THC industry? A dark-haired man in a worn flannel coat walked into a Dino Mart convenience store on a busy street in North Hollywood one recent weekday afternoon. He perused the shelves before landing on a mini-fridge stocked with colorful cans near the chip aisle. As he purchased … Read more

‘Enjoy the basement!’ New California members of Congress move in to Capitol — as the old move out Near the cafeteria of the Rayburn House Office Building, right next to the trash bins, is a drab room with rows of cubicles wistfully called the “Departing Member Center.” After every election, sitting members of the House … Read more

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth! Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West” — THE TWO POLITICAL celebrities liked those lines so much that they put them on their campaign poster. … Read more