Contra Costa Times
Sacramento Reporter for the Contra Costa Times and Bay Area News Group
PROFILE
Steve Harmon
Guest
FROM Steve Harmon
Which Way, L.A.?
Brown Signs Budgets Cuts, Faces Resistance on Tax Measure Jerry Brown today signed $14 billion in budget cuts , including $5.8 billion in social services and support for the developmentally disabled and the mentally ill. But, he says, that's not the end of the story. The Governor reminded voters that the state still faces making many more drastic cuts if additional revenue is not found. We get details on today's events and a preview of what's to come.
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Gubernatorial Politics in California Half of all adult Californians are worried that they or somebody in the family will lose their job next year. Sixty-five percent are afraid they won't have the money to pay the rent or the mortgage. That's according to the latest survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. President Mark Baldassare says, "Voters have more immediate concerns than who is going to be the next governor." But the primary contests are just six months away, so we're duty bound to report what the same poll showed about three Republican candidates and one Democrat who has yet to announce. Steve Poizner (R) Meg Whitman (R) Tom Campbell (R) Jerry Brown (D)
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How Did California Become Such a Dysfunctional State? Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature are in the midst of re-writing the social contract, cutting education and services to poor children, the elderly, the blind and disabled. Debates over those measures are being held in public. Big tax cuts for major corporations have already been made, but they were negotiated in private. It’s not only because of the economic decline. How did it happen in the eighth largest economy in the world, a place where living standards have attracted millions of immigrants from almost every other country?
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A Thaw Develops in Budget Negotiations Late last week, some California Republican legislators took a heavy political beating for sounding as if they'd consider an increase in taxes. Today, it appears the Democrats may be ready to make some concessions. Steve Harmon is reading the signals in Sacramento for the Contra Costa Times .
Which Way, L.A.?
Schwarzenegger's Double-Digit Lead over Angelides Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has increased his lead over Treasurer Phil Angelides with less than six weeks until election day. The Field Poll has Schwarzenegger 10 points ahead. The Public Policy Institute of California gives him a 17-point lead.
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To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.