Charlie Beck

In its zeal to oppose President Trump at every turn, California risks becoming that the thing that it fears.

The death of the nation’s longest serving federal judge is a reminder about our lack of effective judicial oversight.

Rock musician Cody Marks and her band have been playing at California prisons for more than a decade as part of the nonprofit Jail Guitar Doors, which offers music workshops as a form…

Orange County Democrats are celebrating a victory that seemed almost impossible 10 years ago.

California’s relentless clean-air enforcer, Mary Nichols, has divided the automobile industry. After weeks of secret negotiations, the Chair of the State’s Air Resources Board has announced that Ford, Honda VW and BMW of America won’t go along with President Trump’s rollback of Barack Obama’s fuel-economy standards. Nichols claims it’s an “olive branch,” giving car makers the “flexibility” to clean up the air at the same time they continue to market vehicles that make the most money. Brady Dennis of the Washington Post calls it a “big deal,” even if Toyota, GM and 11 other companies revert to Trump’s new federal standards--at least for the moment. Alan Baum is a consultant for both the industry and environmental organizations. He says the four who made the deal with California have a slight lead on their competitors in developing the technology of the future, with China currently far ahead of them all. He says the western car makers are doing a poor job of educating consumers about the benefits of hybrids and electrics. Nichols’s history with the Air Resources Board goes back to the 1970’s. She was named Chair by Republican Governor Arnold Schwartenegger and reappointed by Democrats Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom. She made an international name for herself for years ago when she blew the whistle on Volkswagen for faking emissions tests on the diesel cars it sold for decades all over the world.

Most people don't think California was a slave state, but its presence on the West Coast predates the arrival of enslaved Africans in 1619.

A new Trump administration rule says legal immigrants must forgo all public programs like food stamps and Medicaid if they want to become U.S. citizens.

President Trump says negative economic forecasts are fake news, but he’s also making nervous calls to his friends in the business world to ask if they’re true.

The communities of Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton are recovering after attackers shot and killed at least 34 people and injured dozens more.  Erroll Southers, Director of Homegrown…