Category: Government & Politics
Posted inCity Hall, Economy & Business, Government & Politics, Housing, Media, News

Regents push risk

by Peter Byrne

Investigation shows some officials profited while UC investments performed poorly

Last fall, amid an unprecedented state budget crisis, the University of California Board of Regents took extraordinary measures to cut costs and generate revenue. Lecturers were furloughed, classes eliminated. The regents — the governing body for the vast public university system — also reduced admission slots for in-state students while increasing the cost for out-of-state students. And to the consternation of tens of thousands of students, the regents raised undergraduate tuition by a whopping 32 percent, with more hikes to come.

Posted inArts & Culture, Government & Politics, News

State Department courts tech entrepreneurs to aid in development, diplomacy

by Rosemary Macaulay

The Bay Area’s innovators and social entrepreneurs have been invited by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to contribute their ideas for furthering diplomacy and development using new technology. Clinton said the State Department is embracing technological advances pioneered in the Bay Area to aid communication across the globe.

Posted inBay Area, Environment, Government & Politics, Housing, Land use, Media, Parks & Open Space

Story in progress: Veteran smart growth group wary of rushing to judgment

by Maureen Nandini Mitra

The other day we had a chance to chat over the phone with Jeremy Madsen, executive director of Greenbelt Alliance. This much-respected nonprofit has been advocating smart growth and open spaces in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1958. In 2008 the outfit published Smart Infill, a 80-page report that recommends infill development — building on vacant lots and redeveloping blighted urban areas — as a way of accommodating the Bay Area’s growing population without paving the region’s farms and natural areas.

Posted inGovernment & Politics, LGBTQ+, Open Government

Ban on gays in military heading to key Senate vote

by Angela Hart

A recent ruling by a federal court in Southern California — that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding the right of gays to serve in the military — is unconstitutional. The move could pave the way to lifting the ban entirely. Now, nearly five months after the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee voted in favor of repealing the ban on gays in the military, the Senate could be headed for a final vote.

Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics, Health, News

Berkeley scientists’ next green energy alternative: stomach bug to biofuel

by Ambika Kandasamy

A team of local biotech researchers may have found a way to avoid using essential food crops for fuel by genetically modifying harmless strains of a bacteria most people associate with human food poisoning. The result is an extremely expensive fuel — hardly competitive with fossil fuels at $25 per gallon — but marks the beginning of a new look at green energy.

Posted inElections, Government & Politics, Media, News, Social Justice

Google and the question of ‘evil’: former allies question hometown company’s motives

by Kevin Hume

Google, the Silicon Valley startup that quickly dominated the global search engine business, gained credibility early on with users by invoking its informal motto: “Don’t be evil.” But consumer groups last week turned the slogan against the company, saying the economics of the digital world have obscured its moral compass. Earlier last week, Google united with Verizon to bring before the Federal Communications Commission a list of proposals that consumer groups said seemed to water down the principle of network neutrality — the concept that all Internet traffic should be handled equally, regardless of who provides it or how much they can pay.

Posted inElections, Government & Politics, Law & Justice, LGBTQ+

Prop. 8 gay marriage ban overturned; ruling unlikely to be the last word

by Kristine Magnuson

A federal judge Wednesday struck down California’s ban on gay marriage, but that decision is unlikely to be the last word. The case will eventually end up in the U.S. Supreme Court, legal analysts predicted. Proponents of 2008’s Proposition 8 are expected to appeal judge Vaughn R. Walker’s ruling that the measure was unconstitutional. The first step to the Supreme Court would be the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Posted inCommunity, Government & Politics

Ethnic minority voters finding their voices in multilingual polls

by Rosemary Macaulay

A new multilingual polls shows that ethnic minority voters are playing a major role in the race for governor and are also shaping the outcome of a ballot measure that would legalize marijuana. In the latest Field Poll, Democrat Jerry Brown polled at 44 percent, just one point ahead of Republican Meg Whitman, in the battle for governor. However, the poll shows that it is the state’s ethnic minority communities that are making it a close race, with 48 percent of white non-Hispanics opting for Whitman and 40 percent for Brown.

Posted inEconomy & Business, Government & Politics, Politics

Of course banks resist reform, MIT professor says

by Shawn Gaynor

As the financial crisis drags on, Congress and the Obama administration are taking up regulatory reform of the banks at the center of the crisis. The San Francisco Public Press spoke with Simon Johnson, MIT professor of economics and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. Johnson, author of “13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown,” shared his views May 13 before the World Affairs Council.

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