Some 24 percent of Californians no longer identify with a political party, a record, as Republican voter registration tanks and Democrats stay flat.
From the L.A. Times' John Myers: "Californians may be more disenchanted with political party labels than at any time in modern history, as new voter registration data show another shift away from party affiliation coming at the same time as a presidential race that exposes deep partisan divides nationwide."
"The report issued by Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Monday finds that 24% of California voters now officially have "no party preference," the term used by elections officials to describe independents. That's up almost three percentage points since the last presidential election in 2012."
"While the migration away from Californians picking formal party labels has been evident for most of the past decade, the trend has picked up speed since 2008."
Meanwhile, Jerry Brown's proposed tax on "managed care organizations" is attracting support from California's Republicans.
Dan Walters reports in The Sacramento Bee: "Opposition to new taxes has been a bedrock stance for Republican legislators, one they can enforce because taxes require two-thirds legislative votes."
"However, Assembly Republicans appear poised to bless a hefty tax on “managed care organizations” that Gov. Jerry Brown wants, because it would secure more federal support of health care for the poor."
“Who benefits from MCO plan? Every Californian! Cutting debt, helping disabled, improving healthcare access, saving CA $1.3B = great package!” Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, R-Riverbank, tweeted Monday."
A review finds one third of California prison's
failing health inspection tests.
From
Don Thompson with
The Associated Press:"California’s inspector general gave a failing grade to medical care at a fourth prison Monday as the state tries to regain responsibility for health treatment after a decade of federal control."
"Valley State Prison in Chowchilla received a failing grade in nine of the 14 benchmarks used by inspectors. Medical records often were missing, misfiled, incomplete or illegible. Medicine often was not provided as needed. Essential supplies and basic equipment were missing from many examination rooms."
"Problems included a failure to provide inmates with follow-up care after initial appointments. Some appointments were delayed for months, while others never occurred, inspectors found. Nurses repeatedly failed to carry out doctors’ orders, to identify and act on patients’ medical problems, or to recognize those with urgent needs."
San Francisco is now exploring a change in gun policy as the city aims to reduce police-related fatalities by 80%.
From the Chronicle's Evan Sernoffsky: "As San Francisco officials outlined a series of changes Monday designed to reduce police killings and rebuild community trust, they described a fundamental shift in tactics in which officers encountering knife-wielding suspects should focus on keeping their distance and de-escalating the situation."
"The package, announced by Police Chief Greg Suhr and Mayor Ed Lee at a City Hall news conference, includes more training and new weaponry as well as changes in philosophy. It seeks to respond to criticism that mounted, particularly in the city’s African American community, after the Dec. 2 police killing of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood."
"And it lays out a formidable goal: to reduce San Francisco police shootings by 80 percent."
The political group backing the Newsom-Parker campaign to legalize Marijuana in California has won the support of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
The Sacramento Bee's Christopher Cadelago reports: "The main political campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in California spent months negotiating before finally unveiling its proposal last fall."
"The high-stakes talks between deep-pocketed donors, drug-policy reformers, medical doctors, labor unions, environmentalists and many other groups representing professions with an interest in the process were so exhaustive that one observer, only in jest, compared the discussions to the Treaty of Versailles."
"With the legalization measure aiming for November, and its would-be competitors faltering with little financial resources, old-school cannabis activists have slowly come to embrace the effort funded by billionaire venture capitalist Sean Parker and supported by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom."
And now, we have an update from Cracked: The 14 most insane things happening in the world this week.
"Today's news is like a less plausible version of the wacky fake headlines from 1980s movies set in the future. No reasonable person can be expected to keep up with every world event while maintaining their sanity, so we have taken it upon ourselves to quickly summarize the most important and/or ridiculous news stories from the last week (or so)."
Thank heavens someobody is tracking this stuff....
