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SACRAMENTO – “The United States is a nation of laws, badly written and randomly enforced,” noted the late musician and satirist Frank Zappa. I often think of that snarky comment as I write about the sausage-making process in city councils, state legislatures and the federal government. Did I mention that California’s state government has 518…
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For two years now, life has been disrupted in ways no one could have imagined when the world began shutting down in March 2020 as a worrisome new virus erupted into a pandemic. Through closures and reopenings, mandates and moratoriums, variants and vaccines, here are some of the key events that have affected the lives…
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”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations, noting that these grades are best seen as a mix of art and data. Buzz: Relatively few Americans move to California. The latest example shows us that just one in 10 of California’s new neighbors in pandemic-stricken 2020 were from another state — the…
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When professors Anil Puri and Mira Farka of the Cal State Fullerton Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting presented their annual report in October, they realized it was ticklish, complicated and in some ways unknowable. Issues such as inflation, supply chains, material costs, rising interest rates, pandemic aftereffects and the price of oil, which…
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At first glance, the case looked like a classic fight between environmentalists and developers. Newport Beach was sued on environmental grounds after approving an apartment complex at the Koll Center business park near John Wayne Airport. The plaintiff argued the city failed to adequately assess the project’s impacts on noise, traffic and air pollution. But…
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Q. Dear Honk: I have been wondering about this for years: Why do gas stations with the same brand, located close together, have different prices for their gas? We have several Arcos, for instance, in Torrance, Gardena and Lawndale, and they all have different prices. Some of them are only a few blocks apart. Drives…
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The health insurer for Orange County’s poor, which now covers more than a quarter of OC residents, will embark on a $100 million upgrade to its technology and information infrastructure that it says will allow same-day approval of treatment requests and payment of claims. CalOptima serves more than 870,000 members who qualify for the state’s…
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A man in his 20s was shot and killed in a residential area of Aliso Viejo Thursday night, March 17, and deputies were looking for the shooter, authorities said. Orange County sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of Via Jacinto and Via San Miguel, near Moulton Parkway, just before midnight on a report of shots…
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By DAKE KANG and HUIZHONG WU BEIJING (AP) — Even as authorities lock down cities in China’s worst outbreak in two years, they are looking for an exit from what has been a successful but onerous COVID-19 prevention strategy. A study, interviews with Chinese public health staff and recent public messaging by government-affiliated experts indicate…
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By AAMER MADHANI WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping are set to speak on Friday as the White House warns Beijing that providing military or economic assistance for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will trigger severe consequences from Washington and beyond. Planning for the call has been in the works since Biden…
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