Adjunct Professor of Journalism, USC
Adjunct Professor in Journalism at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication; speechwriter for then-Governor Pete Wilson and former Communications Director for Rescue California, the 2003 recall of Governor Gray Davis
Little Political Fallout from a Terrible Budget The Legislature is getting ready to vote on 28 bills running to hundreds of pages, this week’s $26 billion budget compromise. Nobody likes it, and many claim all it will do is kick the can down the road. But which party has come out looking worse?
California's Growing Clout in DC Leon Panetta is just the latest Californian to assume an important new role in Washington. Nancy Pelosi is House Speaker, LA Congresswoman Hilda Solis will be Secretary of Labor, Steven Chu of UC Berkeley's National Radiation Laboratory, will be Secretary of Energy, and LA Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley will run the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In addition, Congressmen Henry Waxman , George Miller and Howard Berman all chair House committees; Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are senior members of the Senate. Californians have achieved great heights in Washington. What will that mean for the state?
Preview of the State of the State Gray Davis was recalled from the governorship because of a massive deficit. Four years later, the man who replaced him is faced with the same problem, only this time it's bigger. In tomorrow's address on the State of the State, Governor Schwarzenegger will ask all Californians to share the pain of a $14 billion deficit. How does this happen again and again?
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.