San Jose Mercury News: Politics
- Sacramento council approves eminent domain suit for sports arena project
Wednesday - 01/08/2014 - 10:56 AMThe Sacramento City Council has voted to file an eminent domain lawsuit against the owners of a former Macy's department store downtown.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Embattled Los Angeles County sheriff to retire
Tuesday - 01/07/2014 - 01:37 PMEmbattled Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca says he will not seek re-election to a fifth term and will retire at the end of the month.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Made-up names doom San Jose ballot measure to overturn Styrofoam ban
Monday - 01/06/2014 - 06:39 PMLocal restaurant owners had collected 38,784 signatures in hope of putting a measure on the June ballot to repeal the ban, which took effect for large chains last week and will hit smaller shops at the start of 2015.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Obamacare: Hundreds of thousands of Californians finally get health insurance
Friday - 01/03/2014 - 09:42 PMNearly four years after Congress passed a controversial health care law, tens of thousands of Californians like Nunnemacher can now see a doctor without begging for charity care.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - World's first legal recreational marijuana sales begin in Colorado
Wednesday - 01/01/2014 - 12:03 PMColorado's ambitious experiment in cannabis policy hit a historic milestone Wednesday, when licensed stores began making the first legal sales of recreational marijuana anywhere in the world.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - San Jose minimum wage rises again, beating California and national increases
Tuesday - 12/31/2013 - 07:26 PMEven as California and the rest of the nation move toward raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour, San Jose's lowest-paid workers are about to get even bigger paychecks and should continue to earn more than their peers for years to come.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Obama signs bipartisan budget deal, defense bill
Thursday - 12/26/2013 - 05:43 PMRounding out a tough and frustrating year, President Barack Obama signed a bipartisan budget deal Thursday easing spending cuts and a defense bill cracking down on sexual assault in the military, as the president and Congress began pivoting to the midterm election year ahead.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Tech investor Tim Draper launches 'Six Californias' ballot measure to divide the Golden State
Monday - 12/23/2013 - 08:53 PMLots of folks believe California is ungovernable. Venture capitalist Tim Draper has a solution: Six Californias, including one called Silicon Valley.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Pensions for city workers can't be cut, but pay can, judge rules in major San Jose case
Monday - 12/23/2013 - 05:55 PMThe case stemmed from San Jose voters' overwhelming approval last year of Measure B, which aimed to require existing city employees to pay more into their pensions and retiree health care, among other changes.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Political Blotter: A closer look at Honda's and Khanna's contributors
Sunday - 12/22/2013 - 08:03 PMIn the battle between Rep. Mike Honda and fellow Democrat Ro Khanna, each side can find fault with some of the other's contributors.
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- San Jose mayor's California pension initiative cleared, but will it make the ballot?
Tuesday - 01/07/2014 - 06:58 PMBoth supporters and opponents had worried Harris' would use loaded words that could lead voters down one path or another since her title and summary is seen on petition sheets and other official voter guides, but she kept the title vague: 'Public Employees.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share
- UC Berkeley's Janet Yellen faces different task than predecessor
Tuesday - 01/07/2014 - 03:11 PMJanet Yellen will take the helm of a Federal Reserve facing a significantly different economic landscape from the one that dominated Ben Bernanke's tenure as chairman, confronting her with different decisions as well.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Some schools want to stop serving as voting sites after Sandy Hook shooting
Saturday - 01/04/2014 - 09:23 AMGLEN RIDGE, N.J. -- Some schools want to end their traditional role as polling places because of security concerns since the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, leaving their communities without easy alternatives for voting sites.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Judge: Calif. must count rejected ballot petitions seeking to overturn transgender law
Thursday - 01/02/2014 - 06:59 PMA judge in Sacramento has ordered the secretary of state's office to add about 5,000 signatures to the total submitted by supporters of a voter referendum that seeks to overturn a new California law guaranteeing certain rights to transgender students in public schools.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - California new laws: Higher wages, safer cycling, gun restrictions
Tuesday - 12/31/2013 - 06:21 PMTeens: New laws permit transgender students to choose which restrooms to use and which sports teams to play on, and cyberbullies will face harsher penalties in school. It's already illegal for teens to use cell phones while driving, but now, voice-operated hands-free texting programs are off-limits, too.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - More than a million Americans unemployment benefits Saturday
Friday - 12/27/2013 - 01:14 PMMore than 1 million Americans are bracing for a harrowing, post-Christmas jolt as extended federal unemployment benefits come to a sudden halt this weekend, entailing potentially significant implications for the recovering U.S.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share
- Delta tunnels plan's true price tag: As much as $67 billion
Thursday - 12/26/2013 - 08:26 AMJerry Brown's landmark plan to build two massive tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has been advertised at $25 billion, but new documents show financing costs will more than double it
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Health care deadline extension doesn't apply in California
Monday - 12/23/2013 - 09:01 PMBut the state exchange says it will work with people who started the application process Monday to get them insurance by Jan. 1.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Health insurance deadline extended, but not in California
Monday - 12/23/2013 - 02:59 PMAnticipating heavy traffic on the government's health care website, the Obama administration effectively extended Monday's deadline for signing up for insurance by a day, giving people in 36 states more time to select a plan.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Californians scrambling to make Monday deadline to sign up for health insurance
Friday - 12/20/2013 - 09:13 PMFor tens of thousands of Californians still without health insurance, Monday's deadline to enroll under the president's new health law feels like an exercise of hurry up and wait. And across the country, government health exchanges are bracing for an avalanche of applications from people who must sign up by end of day Monday if they want coverage to begin Jan.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share
- Obama close to decision on NSA changes
Wednesday - 01/08/2014 - 12:28 PMPresident Barack Obama is hosting a series of meetings this week with lawmakers, privacy advocates and intelligence officials as he nears a final decision on changes to the government's controversial surveillance programs.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Jobless bill advances in Senate, but battle lines are drawn
Tuesday - 01/07/2014 - 01:03 PMThe Senate voted 60-37 Tuesday to clear the bill's first hurdle. But Republicans who voted to move ahead still want concessions that will have to be worked out before final passage.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share
- Covered California extends deadline to pay health insurance premiums to Jan. 15
Sunday - 01/05/2014 - 03:08 PMCalifornians scrambling to pay their first month's health insurance premium, originally due Monday, now have until Jan.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Study shows soda tax would save California millions in health care costs
Thursday - 01/02/2014 - 10:22 AMA statewide penny-an-ounce tax on sugary drinks could save hundreds of millions in health care costs and reduce the number of new diabetes cases by thousands, a new study shows.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - California's low income health program transfers more than 630,000 to Medi-Cal
Tuesday - 12/31/2013 - 08:39 PMActing under provisions of the new federal health care law, California's Department of Health Care Services on Tuesday said it transferred more than 630,000 Californians from the state's Low Income Health Program to Medi-Cal, the state's health program for the very poor.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Judge: NSA phone surveillance legal, 'works because it collects everything'
Friday - 12/27/2013 - 01:17 PMA federal judge on Friday found that the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records is legal and a valuable part of the nation's arsenal to counter the threat of terrorism and 'only works because it collects everything.'
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - How the Obamas spent their Christmas
Thursday - 12/26/2013 - 09:52 AMKAILUA, Hawaii (AP) -- How President Barack Obama spent the fifth day of his holiday vacation in Hawaii on Wednesday: -- QUIET CHRISTMAS MORNING: The Obamas spent most of Christmas Day in their vacation home in Kailua, a suburb of Honolulu on the eastern side of Oahu.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Health insurance Q&A: What if I missed the deadline?
Monday - 12/23/2013 - 10:01 PMHere are the answers to some questions you may have about the new health care law.
More | Talk | Read It Later | Share - Federal Reserve turns 100 with a mission quite different than envisioned
Monday - 12/23/2013 - 02:11 PMThe press called it an early Christmas present for President Woodrow Wilson: On Dec. 23, 1913, Congress passed legislation creating the Federal Reserve. Hours later, Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share
- Internal Affairs: In season of giving, mayoral candidate Oliverio won't ask
Saturday - 12/21/2013 - 05:55 PMThe December before a San Jose mayoral election is like the charge of covered wagons in a land rush. Each candidate wants to grab enough contributions from the right people to leave their competitors in the dust, wondering if it's worth carrying on.
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