Shasta County residents will vote again on proposals to expand property rights protections and change how vacancies in elected offices are filled.

Democratic leaders in California agree that speeding up the vote count would be nice. But they refuse to pursue any changes that would decrease voter access despite voter frustration with the slow trickle of results.

Gov. Tina Kotek joined youth advocates and supporters of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library last week to sign the library program into state law.

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned to the state’s “insurer of last resort” in recent years as wildfires grow larger and more devastating. The FAIR Plan is reportedly planning to raise its rates an average of 30% this fall.

Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco’s legislation would allow public agencies to delay records requests it deems “improperly” filed, sue for “malicious” requests and charge up to $66 an hour to produce government records. One good governance advocate calls it a “virtual horror show of governmental non-transparency.”

Lawmakers established Quality Education Commission in 1999 to set funding needs for public schools, but some lawmakers argue its model is outdated and flawed.

Legislative leaders said their focus was to spending on public safety, including drought and wildfire preparedness and response.

Bipartisan group of state and federal lawmakers pushed back against federal plan to dismantle its Ocean Observatories Initiative system

A free Ashland screening explores proportional ranked choice voting, its use in Portland and Northern Ireland, and how it could reshape representation.

A bipartisan group of state legislators is urging the federal government to put the buoys, which help assess ocean conditions for fishermen, mariners and scientists, back in the water.

Gov Gavin Newsom made job training and the creation of a master plan for career education part of his agenda. Now, key workforce initiatives may get no new funding.

As election officials across the country steel themselves for the midterm elections in less than five months, President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail threatens to upend their preparations.