(Sac Bee) // Support for the tobacco tax, Prop 29, is slowly going up in smoke – thanks in part to $38 million invested in advertising by tobacco companies R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris...
(Bay Citizen) // While that money is being spent quickly, money for a federally-funded house payment relief program is not. In the last 18 months, only about 5% of available funds have gone to struggling homeowners...
(Top Ed) // A middle class higher education relief bill has passed the state legislature. But a bill that would dictate how those costs are covered is still pending...
(KPCC) // Even as the state disinvests from higher education, it's looking to reinvolve itself with medical care for its incarcerated. A federal judge has created a plan to return control of California's prison medical system to the state, but there's no timeline for implementation...
(LA Times) // There's also no timeline for further regulation of hydraulic fracking for fossil fuels, as the state legislature rejected the latest attempt...
(LA Times) // The state's hopes for $1.5 billion in Facebook IPO tax revenue is dissipating. In fact, the rapidly decreasing value of Facebook stock could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars...
(LA Times) // Facebook still has as many as 900 million users, but some speculate it may be losing popularity with teens; nearly a quarter of Facebook's audience claim to be aged between 50 and 64...