April 17, 2018
Orange County
Voice of OC: Santana: Homelessness showcases county supervisors’ weakness
Under our current regional governing system, county supervisors – who are inherently partisan politicians – get to focus the entire county government bureaucracy as their own sort of publicly-financed, re-election campaign machinery.
Voice of OC: Supervisors say no to watchdog looking at DA and Sheriff’s use of informants
A lawsuit, by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU), alleges the DA and Sheriff’s Department continue to use illegal jailhouse informants in violation of the constitutional rights of criminal defendants. Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens have both denied the allegations.
Voice of OC: Supervisors defend their turf and criticize Spitzer’s homeless warnings
Supervisor Shawn Nelson characterized Supervisor Spitzer’s comments last month to public meetings of the Laguna Niguel and Costa Mesa city councils as “stirring up a bunch of lies and nonsense.”
OC Register: Status Update: Tourism spending hits record $12.5 billion
A flush global economy in 2017 helped push tourism spending in Orange County to a new record, according to the Orange County Visitors Association. Tourism-related spending rose for the fourth straight year to $12.5 billion, according to numbers released April 11 by the OCVA.
Labor
Cal Labor Fed: Tesla workers deserve opportunity to stand together in a union
Like many other large corporations, Tesla avoids being taken to court by their workers because they force workers to sign arbitration agreements, but independent contractors don’t sign the agreements. As a result the horrific stories of some Tesla workers to come to light.
California
Sacramento Bee: Tax cut not for everyone: 1 million Californians will owe $12 billion more next year
About 751,000 households with incomes under $250,000 probably will owe more tax. All together, they’ll owe an extra $1.1 billion.
Nation
LA Times: Supreme Court to decide if online sellers must collect sales taxes across America
For online shoppers, the case could mean higher prices, although many large internet sellers, including Amazon, have already been collecting sales taxes in recent years.
Publication Date: April 17, 2018