The office of California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Webber has qualified seven ballot initiatives for the November 8 statewide General Election. Seven is the lowest number of measures to appear on a statewide general election ballot since 2014.
Black Republicans in California are applauding the Feb. 8 election of Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) as the new Minority Leader of the 19-member Assembly Republican Caucus.
Rookie Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris, who was born in Martinez and attended high school in the East Bay town of Antioch, came home last week to join Gov. Newsom in Santa Clara as he announced his efforts to address the state’s ongoing homelessness crisis and a new COVID-19-related rental relief program.
Bonta said the new Bureau of Racial Justice, which will be housed under the Civil Rights Enforcement Section, will also support the California task force that the state has charged with studying the impact of slavery and Jim Crow and coming up with reparations recommendations for Blacks in California and around the country.
The jury convicted Chauvin on two counts of murder, homicide and one of manslaughter, for pinning his knee on the neck of Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds on May 25, 2020.
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he had appointed Tara Lynn Gray, 57, of Fresno, as Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA).
Last week, Gov. Newsom appointed former Stockton Mayor Michael D. Tubbs, who is African American, as his Special Advisor for Mobility and Opportunity. In this role, Tubbs becomes one of two African Americans on the governor’s Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) — a group Newsom has charged to help California recover from the economic downturn the coronavirus pandemic has caused.
Black officials and health advocates across the state have thrown their support behind Gov. Gavin Newsom’s equity-informed plan for safely reopening California’s schools and economy.
Sprawling parking lots at California State University Los Angeles and Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in “Oaktown” are two locations in California where the state is set to conduct focused vaccine pushes for education workers. The effort is part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s health equity plan as he prioritizes the reopening of schools.
The California Department of Justice (DOJ) launched the investigation responding to allegations of excessive force, retaliation, and other misconduct, including a number of reported incidents involving LASD management and personnel.
A loudening chorus of voices from across California and around the country are putting pressure on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37) or Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) to fill the state’s soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
The legal push-and-pull over whether ride-hailing company drivers in California will maintain their status as independent contractors or become W-2 employees continued last week.
On Oct. 22, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco upheld the injunction issued against Uber and Lyft last August that those companies’ app-based drivers are employees.
For decades, Ethnic Studies faculty, students and staff have argued and struggled to have Ethnic Studies as a requirement in the university curriculum as an indispensable contribution to a truly inclusive and quality education. Gov. Newsom should sign AB 1460 when it reaches his desk this week. It is in the best interest of preparing students for the global society in which they will live and work and eventually play important and leading roles. AB 1460, authored by Dr. Shirley Weber (D-79th District), addresses this issue in a clear and meaningful way. Under the law, beginning 2021-2022, in order to graduate, CSU students would be required to take a class in one of the four major ethnic group disciplines: Native American, African American, Latinx American or Asian American. The benefits of this requirement are numerous and include: its enhancing and expanding knowledge of the various peoples and cultures of the state, country and world; sharing and sharpening perspectives; improving interracial and intercultural relations; and helping prepare students for the diverse state, national and global community in which they will contribute and succeed.
Yolanda Richardson and Adetokunbo “Toks” Omishakin, are officially assuming their roles as state government executives in Sacramento at at time when the state is implementing deep cuts to its fiscal year 2020-21 budget in response to the global COVID-19 crisis.
The Black Small Business Association of California (BSBA) sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom June 12. In it, the group criticized the state’s proposed allocation of $20 million in the 2020-21 budget to enforce AB 5.