The US Supreme Court recently ruled that California's prisons are unconstitutional due to overcrowding. California prison inmate population is currently at a staggering 179% of design capacity, and the court has ordered the prison population be reduced to 137.5% by November 2011, just five months from now.

Responding to the frustration progressive activists feel toward the political power and media attention garnered by the Tea Party movement, former Obama official Van Jones has teamed up with MoveOn.org to launch what they are calling The American Dream Movement.  The media is calling it a "left-wing" or "liberal" version of the Tea Party.

Two major concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in California received major funding from the Department of Energy last week while a third got a go-ahead after determining a plan to ensure that desert tortoises will not be threatened.

The Department of Justice pre-cleared California’s top two open primary under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, thereby opening the way for the implementation of the new primary system statewide in next year’s elections. 

A Democratic budget package approved by the state legislature last week has rekindled the nationwide debate over state regulation of internet-based retailers. The so-called “Amazon Tax” has made it to Governor Jerry Brown's desk and supporters of ABX1 28 say that his signature will “level the playing field” for brick-and-mortar retailers whose prices are undercut by online stores that do not charge for sales taxes.