California

Californians Support Same-Sex Marriage in Greater Numbers

California is a pioneer when it comes to certain liberties. We were legally selling marijuana out of storefronts before any other state. But we really screwed up on same-sex marriage. Perhaps the Mormon church, which poured millions into the effort to ban it, hoodwinked us. But now we make amends:

Firestone Walker Invitational: Beer Fest Goes Global to Emphasize Local

California beer drinkers are spoiled. Our state is home to both San Diego and the Bay Area -- two of the most important regions to the current craft beer movement -- as well as some of the country's most coveted fresh IPAs, barrel-aged stouts and experimental brews around. And now to top it all of ... More >>

Porn Condom Law Blocked in California Assembly Committee

The porn industry has lost a few battles in the last year or so. It faces mandatory condoms on-set in both the city and county of Los Angeles, for the most part. And when bareback production apparently tried to invade Ventura County, the government there also said prophylactics would be the law. So ... More >>

Sex Offenders, Narcotics Convicts Working As California Drug Counselors?

A look at California's substance abuse counselors found that at least 23 of them were convicted sex offenders, with many having rape or child molestation on their records. That's according to a California Senate Rules Committee study of our lack of oversight for drug counselors in the Golden State:

What's In Season at the Farmers Market: Morels, Kind Of

Acclaimed American poet William Jay Smith has so far painted the most accurate picture of the morel mushroom, in a short excerpt from his 1969 nature poems series. "Not ringed but rare, not gilled but polyp-like, having sprung up overnight -- these mushrooms of the gods, resembling human organs upro ... More >>

Nearly 1 in 10 California Workers Here Illegally

Nearly one out of every 10 workers in California is here illegally. So says a new USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration report. The research, released today, also says that more than 1 in 10 Golden State kids (1.2 million of them, or 13 percent) has at least one parent who's here illega ... More >>

California Takes Up Soda Tax Idea

California lawmakers are considering a bill this week that would tax sugary drinks to the tune of one cent per fluid ounce. That would add 12 cents to your typical can of Coke -- but not Diet Coke. It would also affect the price of sweet tea, but not tea that you add sugar to yourself. Yes, this is ... More >>

Last Call At 4 a.m. Gets Support Of L.A. Clubs

Guess who's getting behind a state senator's proposal to extend California's last call for alcohol to 4 a.m? It wouldn't take a sober genius to figure out: The L.A. club industry. Yeah, the Muse Lifestyle Group, which owns such Hollywood venues as Playhouse and Sound, is lobbying nightlife denizens ... More >>

California Ranks Low on 2013 Locavore Index

California chefs -- think Alice Waters and Suzanne Goin -- have led the way in using seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients, practically inventing the concept of "California cuisine" in the process. And so it's surprising to learn that our state placed a miserable 42nd of 51 in a national index ran ... More >>

What Does Climate Change Mean For CA's Wine Industry?

A new study out this week looks at the wine industry through the lens of climate change. The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that many of the current wine producing regions in the world will be less suitable for wine production, and that at le ... More >>

Is Anything 'Made in California' Anymore? Law Would Create Prideful Label

You know you swell up just a little bit when you read that "Designed by Apple in California" label on the back of your iPhone. Don't be too proud, though:

Q & A With Lou Amdur: Glazed Hams, Slutty Chardonnays What to Drink at Easter

See also: L.A.'s Wine Bars Are Better Than Ever. Here Are Our Seven Favorites Lou Amdur, may have sold his cozy, Laundromat-and-Thai massage parlor adjacent Hollywood strip mall wine bar, LOU, last March. But he still has that gift for being able to effortlessly hold forth on all things wine and fo ... More >>

Marijuana Movement Gets Own Super-PAC

The marijuana nation has marched, lobbied and voted. But while legalization has been successful in Colorado and Washington and medical pot is available from California to New Jersey, weed is still an outlaw on a federal level, and attempts to change that have so far been futile. But a pair of Cali ... More >>

Illegal Immigrants Should Be Able To Stay In California, Voters Say

We're not sure what's happened in recent years, but California's stance toward illegal immigrants has gone from the hate of the Pete Wilson '90s to almost nothin' but love today (unless, of course, you listen to AM talk radio). USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll numbers released over the weekend s ... More >>

Porn-Site Search Terms Reveal California's Kink

In California, we love Asian people. Maybe a little too much. We have more Asians -- 5.5 million of them -- than any other state in America. So maybe there's some self-love there too. And that brings us to ... ... California's favorite porn-site search terms:

L.A., California Streets Crumbling, Will Need Billions To Fix, Report Says

If you think our streets our crumbling before our very eyes, you're not alone. The latest California Statewide Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment by the League of California Cities shows that our roads are in "rapid decline" and that our budget to fix them is perhaps even worse. The assessme ... More >>

Marijuana Legalization Supported By Record Number Of Californians

You love your weed, California. The latest Field Poll found a new record number of California voters backing total legalization of marijuana. To which we ask, Where the hell were you people when you had the chance to make that happen at the voting booth in 2010? Anyway, the poll also says that a d ... More >>

Budweiser Allegedly Watered Down Beer 5 California Craft Alternatives

Anheuser-Busch InBev is being sued by consumers in Pennsylvania, California and New Jersey with companion suits coming from Ohio and Colorado, Bloomberg reports. The complaint filed in Philadelphia alleges that the alcohol content in a variety of Anheuser-Busch products is overstated, which would vi ... More >>

California Dominates America's Happiest Twitter Cities

Los Angeles might not have made this list of happy cities, but three Southern California towns did. (Are we then, happy by association?). And the University of Vermont found that California was a top 13 happy state and that Napa was the nation's happiest city. They did so by analyzing 10 million ge ... More >>

Washington D.C. Trumps California As Most Gay Place in the United States, Says UCLA Study

With all its gay equality laws and gay-friendly cities, you'd think California would have the gayest population by percentage in the nation. Not so, according to a new study from UCLA's Williams Institute. It appears Washington D.C. and eight other states are actually gayer. According to research ... More >>

Balance: A 2013 Conference, an Achievement in California Wine (and a Calder Mobile)

For the past three years, a small group of California chardonnay and pinot noir producers has gathered for a conference and tasting called In Pursuit of Balance. In past years it's been staged in San Francisco and New York; in 2013, for the first time, they brought their wines and their message to L ... More >>

California Leads the Way With 30 Advanced Bio-Fuel Companies, as the Industry Grows and Dreams of Fueling the Future

California has almost 30 advanced bio-fuel companies and refineries, beating out all other states -- but 27 of states are on California's heels, including Illinois, Colorado, Texas and Iowa, with a total of more than 80 advanced bio-fuel companies across the U.S. SynGest Inc, in San Francisco, has ... More >>

5 California Winemakers On The Best "Ripe and Fleshy" Valentine's Chocolate Wine Pairings

Chocolate and wine. Could there be a more classic Valentine Day's pairing? There's one small problem: "The flavors of [dark] chocolate and wine aren't always that compatible," as a Food and Wine article summarized. Sure, there's that tannins on tannins thing, a double hit of bitter acidity in the c ... More >>

California's Latino Demographic Takeover Starts In Summer, Says Gov's Office

This is the year Latinos will overtake whites as the largest ethnic group in California. (Pete Wilson is turning in his grave. Wait, he's still alive?!). So says the office of Gov. Jerry Brown in a "Demographic Information" report attached to its new budget plan, released this week. In fact, the ... More >>

California's Special Education Students Rank Near Bottom in Reading and Math Nationwide

With new findings coming out of the California Department of Education, the state is clearly failing to provide good instruction to special education students. The Cabinet Report revealed yesterday that special education students in California rank near the bottom in reading and math proficiency co ... More >>

The GMO Fight Moves to Washington State

In November, California had the chance to pass the country's first wide-sweeping law mandating the labeling of foods made with genetically modified ingredients. But after a long fight, with celebrities weighing in and big ag companies pouring millions into a campaign to defeat the law, Proposition 3 ... More >>

Naked Wines: Invest In A Winemaker (And Drink The Benefits)

If your resolutions include expanding your wine fridge offerings beyond Trader Joe's corporate specials, UK-based Naked Wines opened a Napa outpost last year with a wine program that, in theory at least, makes small-batch bottles straight from winemakers more affordable. The California winemaker's ... More >>

Stupid California Traffic Laws For 2013

The problem with having a full-time legislature in a high-stakes political state like California is that these people sometimes feel the need to make laws. Unnecessary laws. You see, members of the state assembly and senate have to show some work when the go home to constituents. But instead of att ... More >>

Mark Stambler Hosts Cottage Food Educational Meeting

One of the biggest legislative surprises of the year was the California Assembly's passage of the California Homemade Food Act, which was officially signed in to law by Governor Brown in September. The act legalized the sale of homemade "non-potentially hazardous foods," which, according to the bill ... More >>

Friend Overdosed? Call 911 Without Fear Of Prosecution Under New Calif. Law

You're pal just flat-lined after a night of prodigious partying. And you're afraid to call 911 because you've done some of that illicit partying too. A new law that takes effect Jan. 1 will allow you to do the right thing -- call for help -- without fear of being prosecuted for minor drug violation ... More >>

Top 10 Facebook Check-Ins For 2012 Shows Southern California On Top

America loves Southern California, at least according to Facebook's end-of-the-year data. Of the social networking site's recently revealed 10 most popular domestic "check-ins" for 2012, three of the locations are in Southern California, beating out any other region. Top spots include:

UPDATE: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks California's Landmark Gay Conversion Therapy Ban

Update: Another federal judge in a different lawsuit over California's gay conversion therapy ban does not grant an injunction to block the law from taking effect. More after the jump. When California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the first ban on gay conversion therapy in the United States, ... More >>

Record Gas Prices Fueled By Oil Manipulation? Senators Want Big-Time Investigation

If you felt reamed during October's California gas-price spike, in which records were set at the pump even though there was no real oil supply crisis at all, you have some powerful company. The U.S. senators from California, Washington and Oregon this week asked the U.S. Department of Justice to do ... More >>

Proposition 39 Election Results: Big Win for Green Renovation of Public Buildings Paid for by $1 Billion Business Tax

Shortly after midnight, victorious Proposition 39 was approaching landslide status, with 59.2 percent Yes votes, and thousands of construction workers were a bit closer to getting some of their jobs back in California. The measure will raise $1 billion per year, half for the general fund and half f ... More >>

Proposition 31 Two-Year State Budget: Election Results Show Likely Defeat for Reformers

Proposition 31, the ballot measure pushed by good-government types to change how money is spent in Sacramento, appears to be headed to defeat, according to preliminary election results tonight. Also known as the "California Government Performance and Accountability" proposition, Prop 31 was a host ... More >>

Proposition 37 Election Results: Monsanto Money, Lawsuit Worries Sink GMO Labeling Advocates' Hopes

California voters rejected Proposition 37 last night by a margin of 47% to 53% with 98.5% precincts reporting.

Proposition 31 Two-Year State Budget: Absentee Ballots Show Early Opposition to Reforms

Proposition 31, the ballot measure pushed by good-government types to change how money is spent in Sacramento, was losing by a healthy margin when early returns were published tonight. We should caution that those are very early returns -- mostly absentee ballots and 1.3 percent of precincts. But ... More >>

Proposition 39 Absentee Ballot Results: Voters Torn Over $550 Million Yearly for Green Projects, Higher Tax on Business

Update: Prop. 39 surged ahead as precincts began reporting from around California. See next page for more. Early returns show California voters almost evenly split on Proposition 39, which the fiar-minded, non-partisan California Legislative Analyst's Office says could pour up to $1 billion into st ... More >>

Proposition 33 Auto Insurance Changes: Absentee Ballots Show Tough Race Ahead

Proposition 33, the California ballot measure that would change the state's regulations for auto insurance, is off to a tough start tonight, according to an extremely preliminary vote total, including mostly absentee ballots, just made public. With 1.3 percent of precincts reporting, the California ... More >>

Landslide Victory for Proposition 35 to Increase Sex Trafficking Penalties

California voters have approved Proposition 35, to increase penalties for human trafficking convictions, by wide margins, according to the Associated Press.

Proposition 31 Two-Year State Budget: Too Confusing to Be Convincing?

In a different sort of America -- a quieter, more thoughtful America -- California Proposition 31 might be a lock. The "California Government Performance and Accountability" proposition would require that bills be posted three days before passage. It would mandate two-year budget plans instead of ju ... More >>

Proposition 37: Support Declines for GMO Labeling Law

It's been a bad week for the Yes on 37 campaign, the group fighting to pass a ballot measure that would require labeling of genetically engineered foods sold in California. On Monday, another California political pundit urged voters to be wary of the measure, and on Tuesday, a pair of new polls pa ... More >>

The Candidate

What's In Season at the Farmers Market: California Mission Olives from Flora Bella Farm

The Mission olive's history is one part mystery and one part hardscrabble California survivalism. Olives were brought to the Americas by the Spanish in the 1500s, starting with plantings in South America. The cutting trail eventually landed at the California missions and by the early 1800s, Missio ... More >>

BBQ Contest at Santa Anita Racetrack TOMORROW!

Horse racing and competition barbecue make for strange bedfellows once again at Santa Anita Park tomorrow. The Win, Place and BBQ Showdown brings back over thirty top BBQ teams to the grassy infield, where you can lose your shirt on the ponies, then lament your gambling losses with samples of smoky, ... More >>

Yes on Prop 37 Releases TV Ad: "Food Is Love"

If you're looking for the disparity in power between the two factions clashing over Proposition 37, the upcoming ballot initiative regarding the labeling of GMO products, consider this: The No-On-37 folks have spent tens of millions on ads, including a barrage of television commercials, opposing the ... More >>

Gas-Price Gouging Possible As Cost of a Gallon Reaches New Record High in L.A.

See also: *Gas Prices Could Reach All-Time High in L.A. Gas prices set a new record in California over the weekend. Is this a scam? Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to launch an "immediate investigation" into the price spikes because, she stated, "it does no ... More >>

Some Illegals Will Get Drivers Licences in California Under Bill Signed by Gov. Brown

It hasn't been since 1993, almost 20 years ago, that illegal immigrants have been able to obtain drivers licenses in California. While critics of the undocumented have said that's a good thing, immigrants' rights groups have argued that the de facto outlaw status of these drivers have led to mass s ... More >>

Dream Act, Drivers Licenses for Illegals Opposed by Majority of Californians

The California Dream Act, which gives undocumented people who came to the United States as children in-state tuition at state colleges, isn't favored by a majority of California voters. Neither is the renewed drive to let illegal immigrants obtain California drivers licenses. That doesn't mean you ... More >>

Same-Day Voter Registration is Here! ... Next Year (Maybe)

Someday you'll be able to vote simply by driving your Prius past the Whole Foods (your desires will be tallied automatically because we all know who you're going to vote for). Until then, Gov. Jerry Brown saves the day with same-day voter registration in California. Yay! Except that ...