Nonpartisan voters -- those who don't register a preference with any political party -- account for nearly a fourth of the electorate. But if you're a nonpartisan voter, you have some hurdles to jump if you wish to cast a ballot in this year's primary.
Sac Bee's Jeremy B. White reports: "With the presidential nominating contest about to conclude in California, elections experts are warning that voters who aren’t registered with a party could miss out on a chance to help pick the Democratic standard-bearer."
"As California’s fastest-growing voter bloc, people without a party play an increasingly instrumental role in elections. They can vote in this year’s Democratic primary, which will cap a nominating process in which candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are still competing."
"But they must take some extra steps to do so, fueling concerns that the additional requirements will prevent unaffiliated voters from participating."
The Donald is now eyeballing pocketbooks in California in an effort to mend a GOP fractured during the primary fights.
David Montero in Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: "California is about to take on the role of general election ATM for Donald Trump."
"The presumptive Republican nominee for president will be in Los Angeles on May 25 for a fundraiser hosted by Thomas Barrack, founder and executive chairman of the global real estate and investment firm Colony Capital. The event comes at a time when Trump is trying to unify a fractured GOP polarized by a bruising, bitter primary fight."
"Now that Trump has sidelined Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, he needs donors to open up their wallets for him to win the White House."
Transgender equality is the focus of a new battle being waged in the public education system, and right now the battleground is the school restroom.
Daily Bulletin: "Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina."
"The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex."
"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement accompanying the directive, which is being sent to school districts Friday."
Schools and teachers always seem to have the hardest time getting a leg up financially, and now those backing Prop 30 released startling budget numbers to further solidify their argument. However, the numbers are drawing fire.
Ben Adler with Capitol Public Radio: "As a coalition of interest groups announced the launch Wednesday of a ballot measure to extend income tax increases on the wealthiest Californians, speakers painted a dark picture of what would happen if voters rejected it."
“When we cut $5 billion and (school districts) start raising the class size, and cutting art and music, cutting counselors and nurses and librarians and librarian technicians and custodians, their classrooms aren’t gonna be able to kept clean and all that maintenance stuff – this is (students') time and they lose that time forever,” says California Teachers Association President Eric Heins."
"The proposed initiative, which is expected to qualify for the November election, would extend the Proposition 30 income tax increases that voters approved in 2012."
Obamacare is under assault in the supreme court, where a judge just ruled that the Obama administration was illegally funding a medical subsidy. While the GOP rejoices over the victory of checks-and-balances, many disadvantaged peoples without adequate medical support are now left wondering how to adapt.
Politico's Jennifer Haberkorn writes: "A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Obama administration has been improperly funding an Obamacare subsidy program, a huge win for the House of Representatives in a lawsuit against the White House."
"Congress authorized the program but never actually provided the money for it, wrote U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer. The program will be allowed to continue, pending appeal."
"Congress is the only source for such an appropriation, and no public money can be spent without one,” wrote Collyer, a George W. Bush appointee."
Section 8 is under scrutiny after a woman, who's landlord failed to make adequate repairs to ensure a habitable domicile, is being forceably evicted due to the landlord's inaction.
Jessica Lynn with Daily Californian: "Stretching across the wall in Monica Ferguson’s entryway is an eight-foot hole."
"The hole has been a problem in Ferguson’s house since she first moved there in 2002, and her landlord had repaired it several times. At the first signs of rain last fall, Ferguson said the paint peeled back, reopening the hole and revealing 10 years of wood rot."
"This time, her landlord didn’t repair it."
In an unexpected political shift, the Correctional Peace Officer's Association has elected a Vietnamese-American woman, Sgt. Amy Le, as their new president. The decision comes after ex-CPOA president, Sgt. Lance Scimeca, was forced out of his position for bigotry -- including xenophobia towards Vietnamese.
Tracy Kaplan writes in Mercury News: "In a remarkable political shift, Santa Clara County's jail guards Thursday elected a woman for the first time to head their scandal-tainted union, replacing the former president who was placed on administrative leave last year for exchanging racist text messages with a group of other guards."
"Sgt. Amy Le, 48, also will be the first Vietnamese-American to lead the county's Correctional Peace Officers' Association (CPOA) when she takes office June 1. She won the two-year term Thursday with 54 percent of the vote in a race against two male guards."
"The last president, Sgt. Lance Scimeca, stepped down from his leadership position after this newspaper revealed some of his texts, which included slurs against blacks, Jews and Vietnamese."
For those of you who grew up in California smog, you're not alone: A startling review of global air quality by the World Health Organization has revealed that pollution in major cities across the planet is killing more than 3 million people a year prematurely -- and the amount of pollution in our air has increased by nearly 10% in only 5 years.
Jamey Keaton with Associated Press reports: "Almost everyone in large cities in poor and middle-income countries faces excessively high air pollution, a growing problem that is killing more than 3 million people each year and “wreaking havoc on human health,” the World Health Organization said Thursday."
"The U.N. health agency says more than four out of five city dwellers worldwide live in cities that don’t meet WHO air quality guidelines — 98 percent in poorer countries and 56 percent even in high-income countries."
"Ambient air pollution, made of high concentrations of small and fine particulate matter, is the greatest environmental risk to health — causing more than 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year,” WHO said."
And for the person or entity who had the Worst Week in California, #WorstWeekinCA, we picked PG&E and the ongoing saga of the San Bruno explosion.
"The utility has battled fiercely to delay the start of the trial, which has been pushed back several times."
"The court finds good cause to grant PG&E's motion to continue," District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, the trial judge in the case, stated in his ruling."
"San Francisco-based PG&E will go on trial in federal court in San Francisco on June 14, the judge ruled on May 5."
"PG&E faces 13 criminal counts, including 12 allegations that it violated federal pipeline safety regulations and one that it obstructed a National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the fatal explosion. The blast in September 2010 killed eight people and leveled much of a San Bruno neighborhood."
